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5 reasons the Bears beat the Penguins

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WILKES-BARRE — Clark Donatelli had said all postseason that once a game heads into overtime, it becomes a coin flip.

Through the first nine games of the Calder Cup playoffs, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins had proved their coach wrong.

The Penguins treated fans to extra hockey in all three games of their first-round sweep of the heavily favored Providence Bruins to advance to the second round for the sixth year in a row.

Then they tested fate once more in Game 4 of the Atlantic Division Finals.

In that game, Kael Mouillierat netted the game-winner in front of a jubilant Mohegan Sun Arena crowd to even the series at 2 and set the table for it to go the distance.

So when Game 7 on Sunday night in Hershey couldn’t be settled in 60 minutes, the Penguins felt confident.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton came out fast and recorded the first three shots of the frame, but then Hershey pushed back. The line of Jake Guentzel, Carter Rowney and Tom Kostopoulos, which had played the hero role so many times, got hemmed in.

An icing and a lost faceoff later, the Bears cycled the puck to Travis Boyd, who whirled around and deposited a wrist shot in the top right corner of the net, sending the Penguins home early for the 14th postseason in a row.

“I think we almost expected it to go into overtime, just with the way things have gone,” Penguins captain Tom Kostopoulos said. “I think a couple times they got us pinned in our end and we were tired. We just couldn’t get it out.

“Both teams were just putting pucks on net and one just happened to squeak in.”

In the end, it was that simple. The Penguins outshot, outpossessed and outchanced the Bears in Game 7, but in sudden-death overtime their luck — as earned as it may have been — finally ran out.

“I think we gave it our best,” Donatelli said. “It wasn’t like we were outplayed. We just ran out of time and they got a couple bounces, and that’s just how it went.”

Here is a look at five reasons why the Penguins couldn’t quite handle the Bears:

Can’t stop Camper

The Penguins were able to hold league MVP Chris Bourque to a manageable two goals and two assists in the series, but his center, Carter Camper, was a different story.

Camper had at least a point in each of the last six games of the series. His goal late in the second period of Game 7 — which was featured on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays — was a huge momentum swing.

First on the board

Hershey took a 1-0 lead 1:33 into Game 7. It was an ominous sign. In all 19 meetings between the Bears and Penguins this season, the team to score first went on to win the game.

Peters-powered

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton outshot the Bears, 209-183, in the series and had the edge in Games 4, 5, 6 and 7. However, Hershey goalie Justin Peters turned in a heck of a series. If you throw out his Game 6 hiccup, Peters went 4-2 with a 1.89 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage.

Special report

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton converted on 6 of their 35 man advantages, while Hershey went 4 for 35. But, what ultimately robbed the Penguins of an advantage were the two shorthanded goals they allowed.

The Penguins were coming off a 4-0 win in Game 1 and on a man advantage 12:43 into Game 2 when Sean Collins swiped the puck and scored a breakaway goal that jumpstarted the Bears to a 2-0 win.

In Game 5, a Zach Sill shorty completely sucked the momentum out of a three-goal comeback the Penguins had just put together. In a lot of ways, the Penguins, who would have taken a 3-2 series lead with a win, lost control of the series on that play.

Home ice

In the series, the line of Guentzel, Rowney and Kostopoulos combined to score 23 points. When Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was at home, the trio feasted, netting 16 of those points and finishing at plus-8.

On the road, when Hershey coach Troy Mann could pick his matchups, the Penguins’ second line had only seven points and was minus-2.

When two teams are as evenly matched as these two were, home ice becomes even more important. In the series, it wound up being the deciding factor.

slakso@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2083, @CVSethLakso

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